Berkshire Schools Shift to Remote Learning Oct. 26
BOE votes to continue in-person classes if the Berkshire Education Association agrees to waive remote learning provision of MOU
Berkshire Schools Superintendent John Stoddard said in a phone interview Oct. 22 the district will shift to remote learning beginning Oct. 26.
However, by 6 p.m. Oct. 23 the Berkshire Board of Education had voted to continue in-person learning provided the Berkshire Education Association votes to waive the provision of the memorandum of understanding with the district that allows teachers to decide to go to remote instruction if Geauga County has enough cases of COVID-19 to be designated a red county. Geauga County was designated ‘red’ Oct. 22.
A virtual emergency meeting of the board was called Friday afternoon. The three members who were able to attend virtually – Bryan Wadsworth, Mary Hipp and Jody Miller – voted to authorize Stoddard to waive remote learning in the back-to-school MOU if it is in the best interests of the students.
Stoddard read the following statement:
“When we created our Responsible Return to School plan this summer, we decided that if Geauga County reached the ‘red’ level on the Governor’s countywide alert system, that we would move to remote learning. While this was the best information we had available at the time, and was the recommendation of our Geauga County Health Commissioner, we now have more data and information about the spread of COVID-19.
“According to our county health commissioner’s evaluation of the current COVID-19 cases in Geauga County, the age of those cases, and findings from contact tracing, surveillance, hospital ICU/CCU count, and several other factors, the health department can confidently recommend that our district may continue to operate with in person learning five days a week with the current protocols that we have in place. Please see the attached press release from the Geauga County Health Commissioner where he states that the spread of COVID-19 is not a result of the return to school.
“After careful consideration, and much communication with the Geauga County Health Department we feel that it would be in the best interest of our students to continue with in-person learning.
“The MOU was created in August. We are following the plan,” Stoddard said Oct. 22, adding in an email “Our remote learning plan … is not the same as our approach in the Spring. We will have classes tomorrow (Oct. 23), as we start the remote instruction on Monday.
“There has been one case of COVID at Berkshire, but it was with a student who is in the Badger Virtual Academy, and does not come to school in person.”
Wadsworth said he had received “a bunch” of calls and texts from parents expressing they and their kids craved the normalcy of being in school.
“We hope this works out for everyone quickly,” he said in a phone conversation Oct. 24.
Stoddard said last Thursday there are differences between how virtual classes were conducted the last three months of the 2019-2020 school year due to COVID-19 and how they are arranged now.
Students have to log in to their class sessions every school day and will receive homework assignments to be completed online, and extracurricular activities will be cancelled for the duration of the remote learning period, according to the plan.
